Kevin VanDam's 11th B.A.S.S. Tournament Victory
More with Kevin VanDam
 Editor’s
Note: On the last weekend in April, 2007, even with
one day cancelled due to bad weather at the B.A.S.S.
Elite Series Tournament at Lake Guntersville in Alabama,
Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, pulled off a win,
earning $100,000. This year’s win was VanDam’s
11th B.A.S.S. Tournament victory and his 67th, top-10
career finish. This week, we’ll look at how VanDam
found and caught the bass, lost the fish and relocated
them to win the tournament. You’ll see the strategy
that’s required to win a big-league bass tournament,
and how to apply techniques to win like a pro.
Question: Kevin, your secret to winning this tournament
seemed to be using Strike King spinner baits and crankbaits
and your ability to adjust to changing conditions.
VanDam: One of the biggest advantages I enjoyed was
that Lake Guntersville was like many of my home lakes
I fished in Michigan. I fish a lot of milfoil lines
and crank the edges of grass lines in Michigan. I’ve
fished this way for many years, and I fish plenty of
grass, which is why I’ve done so well over the
years.
Question: Did you use any bait besides the spinner
bait and the crankbait?
VanDam: Yes, I did. I also fished with Strike King’s
Pure Poison. I caught most of the bass on the Strike
King spinner bait and the Series 5 crankbait, but I
caught two keeper-sized bass on the Pure Poison. I alternated
fishing between the spinner bait and the crankbait,
but when I located a school of bass holding in thick
grass, I’d cast the Pure Poison to show the bass
something different and to get them to strike.
Question: Did you fish the Pure Poison on top of the
water, or did you run it deep?
VanDam: I fished it deep and with the same technique
I’d used with the spinner bait in the grass.
Question: Why did you think the Pure Poison would work?
VanDam: Pure Poison gives off a lot of vibration. When
bass are buried in the grass, I think they can hear
the vibration, so they’ll come up to take the
bait.
Question: Were most of the other competitors using
spinner baits?
VanDam: Yes, they were fishing spinner baits on the
edges of grass on the main lake. I fished the Pure Poison
to give the bass something new to see.
Question: Kevin, what does this win mean to you?
VanDam: Winning this tournament is a really-big deal.
Winning any tournament when I’m fishing against
the best fishermen in the world is a major accomplishment.
Although the Elite Series has been going on for about
1-1/2-years, I hadn’t won one yet. I felt good
winning.
Question: What rod-and-reel combinations were you using?
VanDam: I fished all Quantum rods and reels. I used
the Kevin VanDam Signature Series rod with a 6.3:1 reel,
both in the Quantum Tour Editions PT series. I used
20-pound-test Bass Pro Shops XPS Signature Series Monofilament
line with the spinner bait. With the crankbait, I used
a Tour Edition Quantum rod and a 5.1:1 Quantum Energy
PT reel with 17-pound-test fluorocarbon line. I liked
this line because it had less stretch, so I got a better
feel and could rip the crankbait out of the grass better.
Question: Kevin, did you ever change-up colors on your
crankbait or your spinner bait?
VanDam: I stayed with shad patterns mostly, although
I did throw a chartreuse blue-backed crankbait to show
the bass a different-colored lure. I did catch a few
bass on this color bait. However, my primary crankbait
was the Sexy Shad color, which is similar to the Tennessee
Shad color. 
Question: Kevin, did you talk to any other fishermen
about where or how to fish this tournament before you
arrived at the lake?
VanDam: No, I didn’t. I’ve learned to rely
on my own ability to catch bass.
Question: How important was your GPS?
VanDam: My most-important pieces of equipment were my
Lowrance X26 with a built-in GPS receiver, because the
GPS helped me return to the exact location where I’d
caught bass before, and the depth finder within the
X26 allowed me to locate subtle changes in the grass.
The other piece of equipment that worked well was the
BioSonics. This unit really got the shad excited, which
made the bass excited. When I caught bass on a spinner
bait on a sunny, windless day, I knew the BioSonics
was doing a good job for me.
Question: Kevin, when you mark a spot as a waypoint
with your GPS, are you marking the area where you’ve
caught the bass, or are you marking your boat’s
location?
VanDam: I mark the boat’s location, but I still
use landmarks on the bank to help me line-up correctly
on the bass to make the best cast and catch bass. Because
my GPS is tied to electronics, and I never know if or
when the electronics will stop working, landmarks as
well as GPS waypoints are extremely-important while
lining-up on a spot to catch bass.
Question: Kevin, what are you going to do with the
$100,000 you just won?
VanDam: There are a lot of expenses out here on the
tour that most people don’t know about. To fish
the entire season, I’ll probably spend more than
$100,000. This win should cover most of my expenses
for the year, so now I can fish for a payday.
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